MFS: M2MI file system

The M2MI File System is a Virtual File System designed for ad hoc networks. It uses M2MI/M2MP to perform ad hoc communication. The file system comprises of several file system instances spread across the network. Each file system instance furnishes a partial state, contributing to the complete structure of the file system. Hence MFS is a union of several file system instances collaborating with each other. The file system facilitates four file operations: ADD, REMOVE, LIST, and READ. The operation ADD allows a user to import a file from the local file system into MFS. It also permits the creation of MFS directories. The REMOVE operation helps remove MFS files and directories. Using the LIST operation, users can view the files available on MFS. The READ operation enables a user to read a MFS file. The M2MI File System also caters to the usefulness of mobile code deployment. MFS allows users to deploy mobile code on remote file system instances. This code has access to MFS files that are a part of an individual file system instance. Mobile code deployment helps process files remotely. Hence the objective of this Masters project is to enable the sharing of file resources in an ad hoc environment by means of a file system

Evaluation of the protective effect of Prunus amagdylus against aluminium chloride induced neurochemical alterations and spatial memory deficits in rats

Background: The present study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of Prunus amagdylus nut kernels against aluminium chloride induced spatial memory deficits in rats.Methods: Plant material was extracted, and extracts were evaluated for anti-oxidants by DPPH method. Animals were divided into four groups of five animals each. Group 1 was normal group and was kept undisturbed. Group 2 was administered with Aluminium Chloride (4.2mg/kg i.p) for 21 successive days. Group 3 and 4 were pre-administered with Prunus amygdalus methanolic extract at dose 0.5 and 1mg/kg/ p.o) one hour prior to aluminium chloride administration. The memory parameters (both acquisition and retrieval) were evaluated using Morris water maze. After behavioural studies, the animals were sacrificed by decapitation and braintissue thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), glutathione (GSH) and catalase activity were measured. Brain tissues from all the groups were histopathologically evaluated using Haematoxylin-eosin staining.Results: Administration of Aluminium chloride resulted in severe memory deficits and neurochemical alterations as was indicated by significant increase in Transfer Latency (TL) time on Morris water maze and increase in the brain tissue TBARS levels in the control group animals. There was significant reduction in the GSH and catalase levels indicating decreased anti-oxidant defence. Histopathologically, control group animal brain tissue showed signs of neuroinflammation. All behavioural and neurochemical and histopathological changes were prevented to a significant extent in the animal groups pre-treated with Prunus amygdalus extract.Conclusions: Methanolic extract of Prunus amaygdalus possesses protective activity against aluminium chloride induced neurotoxicity and associated memory deficits

Synthesis of Al and Ag nanoparticles through ultra-sonic dissociation of thermal evaporation deposited thin films for promising clinical applications as polymer nanocomposite

Nanoparticles (NPs) having well-defined shape, size and clean surface serve as ideal model system to investigate surface/interfacial reactions. Ag and Al NPs are receiving great interest due to their wide applications in bio-medical field, aerospace and space technology as combustible additives in propellants and hydrogen generation. Hence, in this study, we have synthesized Ag and Al NPs using an innovative approach of ultra-sonic dissociation of thin films. Phase and particle size distributions of the Ag and Al NPs have been determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thin film dissociation/dissolution mechanism, hence conversion into NPs has been characterized by SEM- scanning electron microscope. EDXA & ICPMS have been performed for chemical analysis of NPs. Optical properties have been characterized by UV-Vis and PL spectroscopy. These NPs have also been investigated for their anti-bacterial activity against Escherichia coli bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time when NPs has been synthesized by ultra-sonic dissociation of thin films. As an application, these NPs were used further for synthesis of nanocomposite polymer membranes, which show excellent activity against bio film formation

Evaluation of contact spermicidal potential of Lantana camara leaf extracts on human spermatozooa

Background: The Present study was designed to evaluate the spermicidal potential of various Lantana camara leaf extracts on healthy human spermatozoa.Methods: Four different extracts viz. Petroleum ether, Chloroform, Methanol and Water were prepared and diluted to various concentrations. These were then treated with suitably diluted human semen samples. Various parameters like sperm motility, sperm viability, sperm count, hypoosmotic swelling, acrosomal status and function were noted.Results: The results showed that methanolic and aqueous extracts possessed maximum spermicidal potential in terms of above mentioned sperm health and function parameters. Therefore, methanolic and aqueous extracts were further studied for In-vitro evaluation of pro-oxidant activity by detection of ROS generation using fluorescent probe detection method.Conclusions: The results revealed that both methanolic and aqueous extracts of Lantana camara possessed pro-oxidant potential which could be attributed for its observed contact spermicidal activity

Ascorbic acid enhances the inhibitory effect of aspirin on neuronal cyclooxygenase-2-mediated prostaglandin E2 production.

Inhibition of neuronal cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and hence prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) synthesis by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs has been suggested to protect neuronal cells in a variety of pathophysiological situations including Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) has also been shown to protect cerebral tissue in a variety of experimental conditions, which has been attributed to its antioxidant capacity. In the present study, we show that ascorbic acid dose-dependently inhibited interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta)-mediated PGE2 synthesis in the human neuronal cell line, SK-N-SH. Furthermore, in combination with aspirin, ascorbic acid augmented the inhibitory effect of aspirin on PGE2 synthesis. However, ascorbic acid had no synergistic effect along with other COX inhibitors (SC-58125 and indomethacin). The inhibition of IL-1beta-mediated PGE2 synthesis by ascorbic acid was not due to the inhibition of the expression of COX-2 or microsomal prostaglandin E synthase (mPGES-1). Rather, ascorbic acid dose-dependently (0.1-100 microM) produced a significant reduction in IL-1beta-mediated production of 8-iso-prostaglandin F2alpha (8-iso-PGF2alpha), a reliable indicator of free radical formation, suggesting that the effects of ascorbic acid on COX-2-mediated PGE2 biosynthesis may be the result of the maintenance of the neuronal redox status since COX activity is known to be enhanced by oxidative stress. Our results provide in vitro evidence that the neuroprotective effects of ascorbic acid may depend, at least in part, on its ability to reduce neuronal COX-2 activity and PGE2 synthesis, owing to its antioxidant properties. Further, these experiments suggest that a combination of aspirin with ascorbic acid constitutes a novel approach to render COX-2 more sensitive to inhibition by aspirin, allowing an anti-inflammatory therapy with lower doses of aspirin, thereby avoiding the side effects of the usually high dose aspirin treatment

Perception of fever and management practices by parents of pediatric patients

Background: The febrile child is a common pediatric presentation in both primary care and the emergency department. An assessment of parents’ perception to recognize fever in their child, as well as management practices was the focus of this study.Methods: The study was done prospectively in which interviews were taken by researchers. One hundred and sixty four parents, whose children were less than 14 years old, had fever as one of the presenting complaints and admitted in pediatric department of  Rama medical college & research center, Kanpur, were included in this study.Results: Majority of the parents 114 (69.51%) managed the fever initially at home. Only a few parents (17.07%) correctly managed the fever by taking their children to hospital or to a qualified practitioner, rest of the parents primarily rely on local medical store or unqualified practitioner. Conclusion: Parents need to be educated, when they consult health facilities especially during vaccination visits. Decreased appetite was the most common presenting complaint along with fever in children and it should be taken as a significant factor during health education of fever for early and appropriate consultation

Beneficial effects of Morus alba and Azadirachta indica leaf extract based combination cream in scalding type burn injury in rats

Background: The present study was designed to evaluate the potential of a combination cream of aqueous extracts of leaves of Morus alba (MA) and Azadirachta indica (AI) in scalding type burn wound injury in rats.Methods: Plant material was successively extracted and aqueous extracts were selected. Three extract based cream formulations viz. 20% w/w(MA), 20% w/w (AI), and combination cream containing 10%+10% w/w (MA+AI) were prepared. Cream base and standard anti-burn cream containing silver sulfadiazine were also used for comparison. Scalding type burn was given by pouring water at 90°C on a shaved dorsal area of 20 mm2. Deep second-degree burn injury was produced which was evaluated for next 21 days for a percentage of wound contraction and period of epithelialization. On 21st day, animals were sacrificed and histopathological slides were prepared using hematoxylin-eosin staining. Burned tissue was also screened for levels of oxidative stress using thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and glutathione (GSH) estimation.Results: There was a significant increase in the percentage of wound contraction and significant decrease in period of epithelialization in MA, AI, and MA+AI combination cream treated group as compared with control group. However, most significant results were obtained with MA+AI combination cream. Histologically, MA+AI cream treatment resulted in almost complete re-epithelialization and restructuring of the wound tissue. There was a significant rise in TBARS and decrease in GSH levels in burn injury group which was reversed to a major extent by the application of combination cream.Conclusions: The results indicate toward the possible role of free radical scavenging potential of extracts in the Burn wound tissue healing

Inhibition of interleukin-1 signaling enhances elimination of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treated CML stem cells

Treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) with BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) fails to eliminate leukemia stem cells (LSC). Patients remain at risk for relapse, and additional approaches to deplete CML LSC are needed to enhance the possibility of discontinuing TKI treatment. We have previously reported that expression of the pivotal proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) is increased in CML bone marrow (BM). We show here that CML LSC demonstrated increased expression of the IL-1 receptors, IL-1RAP and IL- 1R1, and enhanced sensitivity to IL-1-induced NF-KB signaling compared to normal stem cells. Treatment with recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) inhibited IL-1 signaling in CML LSC and inhibited growth of CML LSC. Importantly, the combination of IL-1RA with TKI resulted in significantly greater inhibition of CML LSC compared with TKI alone. Our studies also suggest that IL-1 signaling contributes to overexpression of inflammatory mediators in CML LSC, suggesting that blocking IL-1 signaling could modulate the inflammatory milieu. We conclude that IL-1 signaling contributes to maintenance of CML LSC following TKI treatment, and that IL- 1 blockade with IL-1RA enhances elimination of TKI-treated CML LSC. These results provide a strong rationale for further exploration of anti-IL-1 strategies to enhance LSC elimination in CML

Atomistic Investigation of Mixed-Gas Separation in a Fluorinated Polyimide Membrane

We have used equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) simulations to investigate the temperature dependence of Maxwell–Stefan (MS) diffusivities of a pure component as well as an equimolar mixture of CO2 and CH4 in a fluorinated polyimide polymer membrane. The morphology of the polymer membrane is characterized, and gas adsorption isotherms of the pure as well as an equimolar mixture of CO2 and CH4 are extracted considering the polymer swelling upon gas adsorption, using a combination of EMD in the constant pressure ensemble and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation. Significant swelling of the polymer in the presence of CO2 is found, as a result of which, the predictions of traditional models, such as ideal adsorption solution theory and dual mode sorption for mixed gases in mixed-gas conditions, are inaccurate, particularly for CH4. Our results show that plasticization behavior of the polymer leads to increase in CO2 permeability with increase in pressure. The Onsager coefficients indicate that, in mixed-gas conditions, finite correlations exist between the diffusing species in the polymer membrane. Further, the swollen membrane is kinetically selective for CH4 at high pressures in mixtures due to availability of large pores, in contrast to pure gas conditions where the membrane is kinetically selective for CO2 over CH4 at all pressures. Analysis of membrane behavior under practical conditions using EMD-based transport coefficients shows that, while the CO2/CH4 perm-selectivity increases with an increase in pressure based on pure component data, the trend is opposite for mixture data. Thus, the commonly used approach of screening membrane materials based on pure component data can be misleading, as it overlooks the correlation effects arising from the presence of other species in the mixture